


Awakening

by thephilosophersapprentice



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Genre: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), author is obsessed with Satori and had to do this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 16:20:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28798272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thephilosophersapprentice/pseuds/thephilosophersapprentice
Summary: Wild wants to show Twilight something.
Relationships: Time & Twilight (Linked Universe), Twilight & Wild (Linked Universe)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 138





	Awakening

The Hero of Twilight slept soundly, for once.

Before, whenever he wasn’t around other people, he almost preferred to sleep as a wolf, trusting the instincts and senses of his animal form to alert him to any approaching danger. Now, however, he was in a party of his other lives, and to his own surprise was rapidly coming to trust them.

For the first few days with this new party, his dreams had been strange—not nightmares, but not truly restful, either. It certainly seemed the same for everyone else—the only cheerful one that first morning had been the Hero of the Skies, who by his own account was used to rough nights and rude awakenings. Twilight, himself, seemed to be caught up in a loop of vaguely-shared dreams with his immediate predecessor and mentor, which left them both uncomfortable and avoiding eye contact with each other. They might have a connection, but the unwanted intrusion on both their souls was not pleasant.

Someone was shaking him. Instinctively Link grabbed the hand with a relentless grip, but the person didn’t back down. “Twilight. Twilight, wake up!”

Oh. Wild. “What’s going on? Are we under attack?”

In the soft moonlight he could barely make out the shake of the other Link’s head. _Come on_ , the Hero of the Wilds signed. Wild was already dressed in close-fitting clothing emblazoned with the now-familiar Sheikah eye.

“All right. I’m up.” Automatically, Twilight belted on his sword and quiver. Wild pressed a small bottle into his hand.

 _Stealthy elixir_ , he signed. _Your other form is quieter, right? Take the elixir and then transform_.

 _Cheers,_ Twilight signed, throwing back the elixir and ignoring its unpleasant flavor. Wild slid the scarf over his face and lead the way nearly silently away from camp. Twilight changed and followed him. Immediately, he couldn’t help but be impressed—Wild had always been good at stealth, but now even with his heightened hearing, he could barely hear a sound of movement. His own footfalls seemed much quieter as well.

They exited the denser trees and headed toward the nearby hills. As they left the trees, Twilight nearly stopped in astonishment.

On the night before they’d left for the Arbiter’s Grounds, Zelda had woken him and Midna and led them to an observation deck high above the castle grounds. A few minutes passed in confusion, but then blue, green and rose lights had bloomed across the sky in fiery bands, palely splendid in their shocking silence.

 _It’s called an aurora,_ Zelda had explained to her shocked guests. _Many researchers now believe it’s the breath of the sun in the dark as it touches our world, but according to legend on nights like this the Golden Goddesses return from the heavens to admire their creation._

This wasn’t quite the same—there was no sign of rose or true blue, and the green light seemed to originate from a point on the horizon rather than above it—but it was still beautiful.

Wild, however, hadn’t stopped moving. He was headed quickly in the direction of the lights and Twilight followed.

What had appeared to be a range of hills quickly turned rockier and more craggy than they had appeared from a distance. They seemed to be climbing directly toward the light. The path was clearly one that Wild knew well; it wound back and forth between large outcrops of rock, steep but never completely vertical. The ground was worn in a narrow strip with grass on either side, clearly a game trail that was rarely used by Hylians. Indeed, they passed three stags that remained unaware of their presence, a stealthy fox and a wealth of rabbits, squirrels, and softly twittering sleepy birds. It was rare to see so many animals so peaceful in the same area.

Suddenly they were at the top and Wild was leading him around several boulders. He motioned for Twilight to crouch down behind the cover of some bushes and creep cautiously forward.

The area was a paradise in miniature. Fruit trees were scattered thickly along the sides of the mountain, old stumps rich with mushrooms stood here and there, and annual vegetables grew some distance down. Even in his Hylian shape, Twilight would have been able to tell that this was a sacred place. The air smelled sharper and sweeter, the chuckle of water among stones rang brighter, and the very ground beneath his feet seemed to tingle with a holy energy. Ever since he had been thirteen and proud of his new responsibility as the keeper and caretaker of the spirit’s spring, Twilight had been able to feel it.

At the center of the clearing was a shallow pool. Fallen leaves lay richly around it, and on its shores perched at least a dozen small rabbit-like animals. Unlike rabbits, they glowed a soft blue; their owl faces reminded him of the spirit Eldin; and their ears appeared more like horns, each a neat spray of leaves. But it wasn’t the spirit rabbits that caught his attention; instead, his eyes were drawn to the creature that stood in the pool, clear lord and guardian of the mountain’s serene beauty.

It was about the same size as Epona and its body was shaped the same, but glowing from within and almost translucent, its back marked with blue sigils. Its snowy mane and tail flowed long. It swept its gaze around the clearing; instead of a horse’s long muzzle, it appeared to have two faces, human and yet not human at all, gazing right and left; the rest of its head hidden behind long, flowing hair. The spirit was crowned with twin antlers like laurel branches. The sight of it stole Link’s breath away. There was no doubt in his mind that he was in the presence of an earthbound god.

He had lost track of time; they might have gazed, awestruck, for hours, neither of them making a move. The lordly spirit walked slowly through his pool, turning to each of the owl-rabbits in turn. Finally, what seemed like hours later, the vision faded from sight and the rabbits turned and left.

Wild stood up and stretched, sliding the scarf from his face. “You can turn back now, if you want.” He began to lead the way back toward camp. Twilight stood and a shiver ran through him, letting a breeze through the thick ruff of fur to touch the back of his neck. He waited to change back until they were closer to camp. Wild kept moving, pausing only to pass the Sheikah slate to Twilight. On the slate was an image of the being they had just seen and a description. _The Lord of the Mountain is said to be a protector of all life in the wilds. According to legend, it is the reincarnation of a sage who died on the lands it now protects. It is also known by its other name, Satori._

 _Satori._ Awakening. Twilight let a breath out slowly. It was always good to know that his homeland was still favored by holy beings.

**Author's Note:**

> It struck me that Twilight and Wild have two out of the three most spiritual stories (the absolute most spiritual being Sky's) in Zelda and both have a unique connection to nature. Also I adore the entire concept of the Lord of the Mountain. So naturally Wild had to introduce Twilight to Satori.
> 
> The title, "Awakening," is supposedly a direct translation of "Satori" in Japanese. However, as that information was taken from a YouTube video about the Lord of the Mountain, it should probably be taken with a pinch of salt. It is probable that Satori is intended as a tribute to Satoru Iwata, one of Breath of the Wild's creators who died during the game's development. There are several very informative videos on YouTube about this theory and I highly encourage everyone to check them out.


End file.
